Spyder is relatively easy to install on Windows, Linux and macOS.
Just make sure to read and follow these instructions with care.

This section explains how to install the latest stable release of Spyder.
If you prefer testing the development version, please use the boostrap script instead.

If you run into problems, before posting a report, please consult our comprehensive Troubleshooting Guide and search the issue tracker for your error message and problem description, as these methods generally fix or isolate the great majority of install-related complaints.
Thanks!

Spyder is included by default in the Anaconda
Python distribution, which comes with everything you need to get started in an all-in-one package.

This is the easiest way to install Spyder for any of our supported platforms, and the way we recommend to avoid unexpected issues we aren’t able to help you with.
If in doubt, you should install via this method; it generally has the least likelihood of potential pitfalls for non-experts, and we may be able to provide limited assistance if you do run into trouble.

While we offer alternative Spyder installation options for users who desire them, we currently lack the resources to offer individual assistance for problems specific to installing via these alternative distributions.
Therefore, we recommend you switch to Anaconda if you encounter installation issues you are unable to solve on your own.

Spyder is also included in the WinPython scientific Python distribution, although it doesn’t include Anaconda’s convenient conda package and environment manager like Anaconda.
You can use it immediately after installing, just like with Anaconda.

Thanks to the MacPorts project, Spyder can be installed using its port package manager; however, the included Spyder version may be out of date or have MacPorts-specific issues outside of Spyder’s control.

The MacPorts version of Spyder may currently be raising ValueError:unknownlocale:UTF-8, which doesn’t let it start correctly.
To fix it you will have to set these environment variables in your ~/.profile (or ~/.bashrc) file manually:

While this installation method is a viable option for experienced users, installing Spyder (and other SciPy stack packages) with pip can lead to a number of tricky issues.
While you are welcome to try this on your own, we unfortunately do not have the resources to help you if you do run into problems, except to recommend you use Anaconda instead.

You can install Spyder with the pip package manager, which comes by default with most Python installations.
Before installing Spyder itself by this method, you need to acquire the Python programming language.

Then, to install Spyder and its other dependencies, run pipinstallspyder.
You may need to install a Qt binding (PyQt5) separately with pip if running under Python 2.

If you installed Spyder through Anaconda (recommended), WinPython, MacPorts, or your system package manager, update using those same methods.
With Anaconda, just run (in Anaconda Prompt if on Windows) condaupdateanaconda to update the distribution as a whole and condaupdatespyder to update Spyder specifically.

If you installed Spyder via the advanced/cross-platform method, pip, run pipinstall--upgradespyder.
This command will also update all Spyder dependencies, so we recommend you use an isolated virtualenv or venv environment to avoid any potential unintended effects on other installed packages.

If you want to try the next Spyder version before it is released, you can!
You may want to do this for fixing bugs in Spyder, adding new features, learning how Spyder works or just getting a taste of what the IDE can do.
For more information, please see the CONTRIBUTING.md document included with the Spyder source or on Github, and for further detail consult the Spyder development wiki.

The recommended and easiest way to do this is with conda (although experts may prefer pip). In a fresh environment (condacreate-nyour-name-here-cconda-forgepython=3, then activate it), run the following:

This installs all of Spyder’s dependencies into the environment along with the stable/packaged version of Spyder, and then removes Spyder itself.

Note

Following the separation in v3.3 of Spyder’s console code into its own package, spyder-kernels, you’ll need to have the corresponding version of it available—0.x for Spyder 3 (3.x branch), and 1.x for Spyder 4 (master branch).
The above procedure will install the 0.x version; to test the master branch (Spyder 4), you’ll need to install the corresponding 1.x version of spyder-kernels.
This can be done via two methods: installing the 1.x version via conda:

conda install -c spyder-ide spyder-kernels=1.*

or pip:

pip install spyder-kernels==1.*

(and using the same respective command, replacing 1 with 0, to switch back to the Spyder 3 version), or by clone-ing the spyder-kernels git repository to somewhere on your path and checking out the appropriate branch (0.x or master) corresponding to the version of Spyder (3 or 4) you would like to run, and running the commend pipinstall-e at the root.
For any non-trivial development work, keeping two separate virtual environments (with conda-env or venv) for Spyder 3 and 4 makes this process much quicker and less tedious.